By Julie Simmons

Homeschool Classroom for Four

Avoid Homeschool Burnout...

I've heard it said that if you are new to homeschooling, and you haven't felt like crying several times in the first few weeks, then you are not really homeschooling. We feel the full impact of our own character flaws as well as the faults in our children.  Part of homeschooling is developing patience. Now is the time to adjust, to find better ways of doing things that aren't working out, and develop good habits while establishing a routine with a flexible schedule.

A plan and a schedule...

is of utmost important for getting homeschool done. Sometimes we plan more than we can possibly do. We must be realistic in our planning, but with creativity, often we can increase productivity in the time that we have.   There are a number of very good homeschool planners available for purchase that can really increase your productivity and help you keep up with the records, your homeschool schedule, and details of your homeschooling experience (No easy task). You can find many helpful ideas, forms, and information that puts your family on the right track.

Children's Chores

In order for a parent to be free to homeschool, many household chores must be delegated to the children. Summer is the best time to establish chore responsibilities and teach children how to do their chores well, but if it is not going well, the only way to fix it is to devote some time each day to teaching your children how to do their chores.  This will pay off in the end, but for right now, it seems to be a heavy burden. Don't feel stressed about the time it takes to get school days going somewhat smoothly. This is just a fact of life.  The whole process is a learning experience.

Help Your Children Develop Life Skills:

Learn to value the living experiences that your children are learning through as well as the academics that you are seeking to teach.  It is all part of a balanced life and preparation for maturity.  Many practical skills are essential for your children to learn and home is such a well equipped training ground for young learners. A favorite resource of mine that is a tremendous help to scheduling in a large family is Managers in Their Homes (MOTH for short).  After more than 20 years of homeschooling, I have never seen another product as helpful for managing homeschool and life for a large family.

Advice to New Homeschool Parents:

My advice to new homeschool parents is to give yourself some slack during the first month or so of school at home. Try to find enjoyment in the process.  Do not allow yourself to be stressed.  Maintain a sense of humor and try to keep the an encouraging atmosphere that has built in rewards for accomplishments. You must establish some sort of accountability program that all the children understand which will encourage hard work and completion of assigned tasks.

Incorporate an Accountability System in Your Homeschool Organization:

That's where an accountability system that includes checklists or charts are needed.  Such a system will have definite, predefined requirements along with planned rewards or planned withholding of privileges to correspond with the child's effort and/or accomplishments.

More than one of my children has expressed dislike for checklists claiming that they can get their work done without it. But Mom knows better. There is some laziness as the heart of every human being and that includes my children. They don't want a checksheet because it makes them have to work hard every day. If a system is used properly, parents are daily aware of what is accomplished by each child and make sure that the priviledges or lack of priviledges that in contengent on their work, is delivered. This also teaches the valuable lesson of good  consequences for good behavior or or bad consequences for bad behavior.

One of my favorite verses that I remember when I am feeling stressed and burdened is "Come to Me all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." I receive peace of mind when I leave the outcome to Christ. I must give it my best effort, but He brings the fruit, He accomplishes all good things.

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(Thanks to the Reed family for sharing their homeschool classroom picture above....Thanks, Heather!)

Read about the Simmons family's Year Round Homeschool Schedule.  It has built it time to de-stress and pursue your hobbies and interests.

Read how one family avoids homeschool burnout....a different approach.

And remember to avoid financial burnout by checking Best Homeschool Buys.com for great prices on Used Homeschool Curriculum.

Organize Your Home and School, Plus Stay Informed All Year Long!

The Old Schoolhouse has paired their one-year print subscription with the Schoolhouse Planner to provide you with the ultimate in organization and encouragement. U.S., Canadian, and other international residents can purchase these bundles for only $44--that's a savings of $20!

But Hurry! Only 250 of each bundle is available and many have sold.

International residents have their own special bundle! A one-year print subscription and the Schoolhouse Planner are only $54.00. This is a savings of over $30!

Canadian residents can enjoy a TOS Encouragement Bundle for only $44! Save $20 and get a one-year print subscription and the Schoolhouse Planner! )

Perhaps,  like me, you need help with record-keeping?    Do you need something that is  easy to set up and that will give you more time with your children while helping to keep things organized.  An extra benefit to being organized today will enable you, at the same time to capture your family's precious memories.  Your homeschool record keeping is actually akin to scrapbooking.  You have the basic framework to flesh-out a wonderfully creative  "scrapbook" of your family's experiences in homeschooling.  This can even be a family project that the children can participate in.  You will start by planning your year and setting goals for your family, yourself, and for each one of your children.
Through trial and error, I developed my own organizational homeschool notebook.  It is because of the work I put into this effort that I realize the value of the Brain in a Binder that Cindy Rushton has developed to help homeschool parents get organized. Since Cindy's Brain in a Binder notebook is in digital format, you can print out exactly the organizing sheets that you need and will use. You will not need to waste ink and paper on notebook pages that don't pertain to your family's needs. The following image is the printout of Cindy's 7 product digital known as the Organized Mom's Super Set. The Brain in a Binder is just one of the 7 products. If you need homeschool inspiration or if you need help in organizing your coming homeschool year, you might want to check out Cindy's set while she has it available for half price.  I'm not sure how long it will be at the reduced price. I heard that it would be through this weekend.

Check out Cindy's New Organized Mom Super Set! It is full of great ebooks and audios that will help take you by the hand and plan the best homeschool year ever! Plus! When you purchase your set you get MORE help with record-keeping, organization, and setting up your home to learn--you also get access to Cindy's Organization 911 Seminar Set and her newest Seminar Set, Let's Get Organized for the New School Year.

Read the rest of this entry »

I wrote last year about our success with  our Year Round Homeschool Schedule.  If you haven't settled on a good schedule for your family, you might want to read here about what Cindy Rushton is offering that you can help you (Free for you). It concerns developing a good schedule for your family. This is the story:

Cindy was telling me all about her Ultimate Homeschool Expo.  She has just finished adding all of the resources into the Ultimate Homeschool Expo virtual library where everything is ONLINE for your convenience. Cindy builds a  exclusive Membership Site that includes everything from the UHSE in one place--it has audios (from all of the sessions and from the bonus gifts that her speakers give to us), ebooks, complete unit study guides, articles, printable notebooking pages, cookbooks, on and on. I can't believe all of the things that we receive for only $39.95. But she is offering a sampler FREE...

I am so excited that Cindy has given me permission to give my readers a sampler of one of her free gifts that is part of the Membership Site. This gift is an ebook and audio set that Cindy normally sells on her website.

I just listened to this and it is so practical and helpful, just what what I need to help me set priorities and set up the routines that will help us accomplish our goals.

Listen to.....

Scheduling ABC’s Audio Workshop with Cindy Rushton

Let Cindy show you her secrets to developing a homeschool schedule that works for your family!
Download by Mp3
http://tinyurl.com/2cpsb9  (you may have to copy this url and paste into your browser

As a  picture captures a thousand words, a gift like this lets you see the value of the Homeschool Expo Library.  And, just think...this is only ONE of the homeschooling helpful gifts included on the Homeschool Expo Membership Site. There are hundreds more!
New homeschooling ideas and classic homeschooling ideas are ready and waiting to encourage homeschool families.  Join today and get set your next homeschool year.

Kid's Chores

Tips for Successful Kids Chores

Homeschooling families have to be organized to get the household chores done.  The benefits of developing a better system for your children's chores is two-fold:

1) The house cleaner and straighter

2) The children learn to work (and hopefully develop a good work ethic and an appreciation for what others do for them).

I want to encourage you in the worthwhile endeavor of teaching your children to work in the home and with the family. This e-book - Tips for Successful Kids Chores will help you improve your home chore plan. You will find suggestions for implementing a chore program in your home that includes your children. Here you will find some ideas for how it is done in other homes. Also, you'll find chore ideas to give to your children so that they can to work as part your family team.

Included in this booklet are the following sections:

1. How to organize your children’s rooms including how to perform a 3 day blitz!
2. How to deal with unsavoury attitudes over chores
3. Age by age chore suggestions & help
4. Zoning your child’s room
5. Dealing with Chore Allowances
6. Motivation for training your children to do their chores
7. How to set up your chore pocket system
8. Chore cards for children from preschool to young teen (Separate File)

This is mostly a total system to enable you get your chore plan up and running but also has a chore pocket system that adds some fun to the process. While the booklet will help mothers with kids of all ages the pocket system is mainly for children from preschool to 10 years of age.

This booklet, Tips for Successful Kids Chores, is offered free from CurrClick for the last week of December 2008.  Every week CurrClick offer certain free downloads primarily for homeschooling. Sign up for the CurrClick mailing list to find out what is free each week.  It is a great deal for homeschoolers, especially those that enjoy making lapbooks and notebooks in their studies.

For my best tips for avoiding homeschool burnout see post on Homeschool Stress.

Having a Schedule Gives Us Something to Aim for...

Lane and Nathan loving a science experiment.

Over the last 22 years of homeschooling, we have had to develop daily schedules each year that fit our family. Having a schedule gave us a flexible structure that helped us in reaching our goals though we rarely had days that fit the schedule without adjustments.

Year-round Homeschool

Besides having a daily schedule, we roughly followed the public school's schedule...starting in August and ending in May with the flexibility to take trips with Dad during the school year. However, we found a better way, when we decided to homeschool year round.

I have found that even with my best intentions, it is hard to have school in the summer as thoroughly as during the rest of the year. It may be just me, but I believe I am conditioned to feel the need to be off the school routine more during the summer. Also, since we have friends or family that follow the traditional school calendar, a summer school schedule cuts into some of the activities our children might be invited to do. So…we take about 4 weeks together off during the summer or maybe even 6 weeks.

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It is time to begin a new year of homeschool (unless you homeschool year round, but that's another post).

Homeschooling moms must juggle teaching with housework, cooking, shopping, mothering, being a good wife.  My best advice is for you to PLAN & PRAY...

Here is a list of planning tips:

1.  Write out goals for the family as a whole and for each child. Make sure that the goals are realistic and not idealistic.  They are to aim for, but not to cause discouragement.  Keep in mind, the beauty of homeschooling is its flexibilility.  These goals will allow you to be focused in your planning.  You will be able to achieve more with goals than without.

2.  Declutter the house. There are excellent books available to help you with this task.  Basically, you need to throw away, give away, or store enough stuff to make your home easier to keep in order and more peaceful to live in.  It is great to have a "clean out" day with the whole family involved.  With some children, though, this is difficult when they don't want to let any of their possessions go.  If you have room in the attic, let your child pack a box of toys to store there rather than having to give them away or throw them away.  (My daugher-now 18-still remembers and reminds me that I got rid of some of her dearly loved stuffed animals years ago!  I learned my lesson and never again did I make a decision about her things without letting her be involved!!)

3.  Work up a new chore chart, post it, and make sure everyone is doing their part. If the children have gotten rusty on completing chores over the summer, or if moms and dads have been slack on holding them accountable for their work, then it is time to get the chore routines back in gear!  This is essential for me to have time for homeschool.  These days it is so easy to make chore charts on a word processor.  When we started homeschooling, over 20 years ago, I made them with paper, pencil, and ruler.  My children always enjoyed marking off chores and receiving a  sticker to mount on the chart when all their daily chores were completed.

4. Plan for meals;  keep them simple. We mostly have cereal for breakfast.  Sometimes one of the children cooks breakfast.  I always encourage them to take on more responsibility and learn how to do new things. Lunch is usually sandwiches, leftover pizza, soup, and/or fruit.  As soon as the kids are old enough, they make their own lunch.  They really enjoy being able to decide what they want and fix it themselves.  Then occasionally, I make lunch for everybody.  Supper is the meal that needs to be planned for.  You will feel twice as burnt out if you are scurrying around in the late afternoon trying to make a good supper for your family without a plan in place.  I recommend once a month cooking to supply 2-4 meals weekly from the freezer.  Oooo....that takes so much pressure off of your daily schedule.  Cooking one or two meals that take a substantial amount of time is a lot easier than cooking like that every day.  Plan some quick menus to fill in the rest of days a week.  Again, be realistic in your meal planning...but plan you must.

5.  As good as planning is, it falls far short without prayer and seeking wisdom from the Lord.  As I tell my children, reading the Word and prayer ALWAYS has priority over homeschool academics.

Proverbs 16:9 says "The mind of the man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.